NYT: Biben appointed executive director of state ethics panel

Theresa Schillaci, acting executive director of the state’s new Joint Commission on Public Ethics, said she had no information on this week’s vote by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics to name Inspector General Ellen Biben as the new executive director, as was reported this afternoon by the New York Times.

Ellen Biben, pictured here, has been the state’s inspector general since Jan. 1, 2011. She was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She is a former assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office. She served for 10 years, rising to the position of deputy bureau chief of rackets.

Janet DiFiore, chairwoman of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could a spokesman for Biben.

DiFiore, Westchester County district attorney, said last month that resumes were due by Jan. 20 and the panel wanted to have someone in place by the beginning of this month so the commission could start to fill empty positions.

The panel replaced the Commission on Public Integrity following passage of an ethics law last year that expanded oversight to include the executive branch in addition to the Legislature. Sixty investigations were placed on hold in August as the former commission shut down. Commission members have said there is a backlog of hundreds of cases.

According to the New York Times, which cited anonymous sources, Biben was appointed Tuesday in a secret vote of the ethics panel.